Hampton Inn & Suites San Clemente - Fully Renovated

It was in San Clemente.

Very clean and well situated for our plans

Perfect

Our stay at the Hampton Inn San Clemente started out excellent. The hotel was clean, comfortable, and the front desk staff were very friendly. Unfortunately, what happened after checkout completely ruined our experience.

My special-needs daughter accidentally tucked my Apple AirPods under a pillow in our room, and in our rush to check out, we left them behind. Once we realized it, I contacted the hotel multiple times via phone and email. I spoke directly with a team member and shared screenshots from Apple’s "Find My" app. The tracking clearly shows the AirPods were removed from the room and taken to a private residential address rather than being turned into the hotel’s lost and found.

Despite providing clear location evidence and reaching out repeatedly, I have received zero follow-up or response from management. While the stay itself was lovely, the complete lack of communication and apparent mishandling of guest property are deeply concerning. I hope hotel leadership investigates this matter seriously and improves how they handle guest property and communication.

Convenient location. Even though it was by the freeway, I didn’t hear any freeway noise. Very nice staff, good air conditioning, safety bars in shower for oldies like me.

Room was a nicely appointed suite with a separate living room. There was a large TV in each room as well as ice counter area in all rooms including the bathroom.
Housekeeping services were sporadic. Sometimes they showed up and sometimes they didn’t. The shower doors were not properly installed and keep rolling to one side all the time. The breakfast was decent.

The facility was very nice and clean. Location was perfect. Staff was nice and very welcoming, View was great as well.

Space and clean

Loved the size of the room, the location, responsive front desk, and decent breakfast.

Location

I checked into this hotel using the Hilton app and was assigned a digital key. When I arrived at the room, the digital key didn’t work. I went down to the front desk, but no one was there. My husband had to call out and look around before someone finally appeared.

I explained that I would prefer a different room because I didn’t want to be located next to the gym. The employee immediately told me the hotel was sold out and that there were no other rooms available. What struck me as odd was that after I gave her my room number, she informed me that I wasn’t actually in the room listed in the Hilton app and that my room was a completely different number. She then handed me a physical room key without asking for my ID, confirming my name, or verifying any information. As a guest, that was concerning from a security standpoint.

The fact that the room assignment in the Hilton app didn’t match the actual room I was given was also confusing and frustrating.

When I got to the room and looked out from the balcony, the atmosphere around the property made me uncomfortable and unsafe. At that point, I told my husband I didn’t want to stay, and we decided to check out.

Unfortunately, the checkout experience was no better. Once again, there was nobody at the front desk, and my husband had to go find the same employee. Throughout both interactions, she seemed annoyed and uninterested in helping. No one asked why we were leaving, apologized for the issues, or made any effort to address our concerns.

To make matters worse, I used one of my Hilton free night certificates for this stay. We spent less than 10 minutes at the hotel before deciding we did not feel comfortable staying and checking out. I am currently waiting to hear back regarding a resolution because I do not believe it is reasonable to lose a free night certificate over an experience like this.

Between the confusion with the room assignment, the security concerns surrounding the room key, the lack of staff presence at the front desk, and the poor customer service, this was a very disappointing experience and not what I expect from a Hilton property.